Keg Tap Troubleshooting

Make sure your keg is working properly for the best-tasting beer.

Having a keg can liven the mood at a party by providing an endless flow of beer to keep things going through the night. But a keg can also ruin the mood of a party if it is not working properly. If you are experiencing cloudy, flat, off-tasting, or foamy beer coming, you've probably got a problem with the keg. There are several ways to troubleshoot these problems if your keg is not working properly.

Instructions

1. Reset the keg tap. If you are experiencing cloudy, flat, off-tasting or foamy beer, the first thing you should do is try to reset the keg tap. If your keg tap is not properly secured to the top of the keg, it can cause your beer to come out incorrectly. To reset the keg tap, lift up the clamp on the keg tap slightly and then quickly clamp it back on the keg. Press down to make sure it is secured.

2. Pump the tap correctly. Kegworks.com says a properly pressurized keg should fill a 10 oz. glass in about 4 seconds. If your keg tap is overpumped or under\pumped, your beer might come out extra foamy or not come out at all. If the beer is foamy, your tap is most likely overpumped. The only way to get the correct pressure back in the keg is to release the foam through the hose and then make sure it does not get overpumped again. If your beer is not coming out at all or only dribbling out, your tap is not pumped enough. Use the pump on the end of the keg tap to get the correct pressure in the keg.

3. Set the temperature correctly. If your beer is still coming out foamy or off-tasting and you have reset the tap and pumped the tap correctly, your issue could relate to the temperature. If your beer is too hot or too cold, your beer will come out extra foamy or cloudy. To correct this, make sure that there's nothing hot near the keg and that the keg's temperature is between 36 and 40 degrees. If the temperature gets about 45 degrees, your beer will become sour and cloudy,

References

• Kegworks: Draft Beer Systems